Megadeth Movies

Explore the blistering rise, brutal fall, and lasting impact of thrash metal in this documentary focusing on some of the hardest and heaviest music of the 1980s and early 1990s. The time was the 1980s, and a collection of ambitious young bands from Los Angeles, the Bay Area, and New York City were seeking to create a new and exhilarating brand of music. The result was a scene so extreme and powerful that the poseurs were separated from the hardcore fans as soon as each concert started. There was no doubting those who were in it for real, and from Anthrax and Exodus to Slayer, Megadeth, and Metallica, it seemed as if thrash was a musical force to be reckoned with. But that all changed in the early 1990s, when a shifting musical landscape revealed grunge, not thrash, to be the dominant form of "hard rock." Though a precious few trash bands like Metallica would still go on to achieve unprecedented levels of fame, most would simply languish and fade away as the grunge trend took over. Despite the fact that the scene had changed, the music would live on through the artists and fans who never forgot the thrill of the thrash. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

As the biggest names in metal all come out to flex their musical might, cameras roll to capture all of the ear-splitting insanity of the 2005 Gigantour. Megadeth, Dream Theater, Fear Factory, Nevermore, Life of Agony, Symphony X, Dry Kill Logic, and Bobaflex all converge on one stage to deliver the ultimate heavy metal experience. Additional backstage footage shows just how wild things can get when you place some of the most outrageous musicians on the planet in the same room together. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Thrash metal pioneers Megadeth play some of their best-known songs alongside fresh material in this live video, shot during what proved to be one of the band's last major concert tours before a hand injury led guitarist and founder Dave Mustaine to disband the group in 2002. Megadeth: Rude Awakening features these masters of aggression tearing through 24 songs, including "Symphony of Destruction," "Hangar 18," "Sweating Bullets," "Peace Sells," "Holy Wars," "Dread and the Fugitive Mind," and "Reckoning Day." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Ozzy Osbourne, Gene Simmons, and Aerosmith's Joe Perry and Steven Tyler are among the Heavy Metal artists interviewed in The Decline of Western Civilization 2: The Metal Years. This follow-up to filmmaker Penelope Spheeris' classic 1981 "punk" documentary The Decline of Western Civilization is a bit more reflective and word-dominated than its predecessor, but no less entertaining. One striking aspect of the film is its before-and-after comparisons of the impact of MTV. Heavy Metal newcomers tend to overpraise the cable service, while the "oldsters" implicitly decry the mainstreaming-and in some cases, homogenizing--of their best work. Interestingly, Spheeris' own style has become more mainstream in the years since Decline of Western Civilization, thanks to experience gleaned on such dramatic films as Hollywood Vice Squad (1986) and Dudes (1987). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide